Click n' Close Names Blake Priest Director of Whole Loan Trading

ADDISON, Texas, Sep 08, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Click n' Close Inc, a multi-state mortgage lender, has appointed Blake Priest as the new director of whole loan trading. This strategic move aims to bolster the company’s ability to process and manage a broader range of loans, particularly those that do not meet traditional investor guidelines.

According to Jeff Bode, the founder and CEO of Click n' Close, Priest’s experience in leading a high-volume, multi-branch operation with a mandatory hedging model is a perfect fit for the company’s correspondent division. “Blake's ability to build strong partnerships while driving accountability and process improvement will further enhance the reliability and performance our lending partners depend on,” Bode stated.

Priest brings a wealth of experience to his new role. He spent two years as a residential mortgage lender at Pinnacle Bank in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to that, he was the president of retail lending at Open Mortgage LLC, where he managed a multi-state loan production team and oversaw a staff of 75. His background also includes a nearly 10-year tenure as the president of NTFN Inc. in Plano, Texas, where he managed operations, sales, investor relations, and the company’s mandatory hedging model, overseeing 250 employees across more than 40 branches with annual production of $1 billion to $2 billion.

Before his time at NTFN Inc., Priest served as a regional director of North American Lending, leading the company’s transition from a best-efforts pricing model to a mandatory hedging model while working directly with its hedge advisory firm. His earlier roles included branch manager, overseeing pricing and the secondary desk, and account executive serving mortgage brokers in the Dallas and Houston markets.

In his new role, Priest will lead Click n' Close’s scratch and dent purchasing, giving correspondent partners another outlet for loans that fall outside traditional investor guidelines. He will also oversee lead sourcing and pricing assessments, monitor hedging performance, and participate in secondary distribution to support continued growth across the correspondent division.

“Blake's experience managing the hedging and pricing discipline that keeps a correspondent desk reliable for its partners is exactly what we need to build here,” Priest said. “My focus is giving our correspondent partners consistent execution and pricing they can count on.”

The appointment is seen as a significant step in strengthening Click n' Close’s hedging and pricing function. For correspondent sellers, it signals continuity in the disciplined, mandatory hedging approach Click n' Close uses to manage risk and honor pricing commitments.